Our 10 Best NYC Chinese Restaurants, 2010 Edition

The clam with fresh garlic at Best Fuzhou is just about the best seafood salad you've ever eaten

6. Yee Kee H.K. Style -- the "H.K." refers to Hong Kong, and this restaurant is one of several establishments offering the cuisine of that international city, which have migrated out to various neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. The emphasis is on seafood, but English, Japanese, and regional Chinese influences are also at the forefront. 1232 Avenue U, Homecrest, Brooklyn, 718-336-2338

5. Best Fuzhou -- King of the Fujianese places, Best Fuzhou fiddles with a diverse range of seafood, prettily arranging it with the care that a florist arranges flowers. Witness "clam with fresh garlic," an almost Sicilian salad mixing scallions, onions, and enough raw garlic to blow the top of your head off, tendered in a trio of large clam shells, or the relentlessly red Fujianese signature, "pork with lichee." 71A Eldridge Street, 212-219-3328

4. Henan Cuisine -- Latest cuisine to pop up in Flushing is Henan, a tiny but populous province on the Yellow River, said to be the site of China's earliest civilization. While the food includes commonplaces of northern cuisine featuring lamb, cumin, chile oil, and even the occasional dash of Sichuan peppercorns, chicken is a major focus, in salads and in stew pots. The walk-down space is so casual and friendly, you should have no trepidations about diving down the stairs. 136-31 41st Avenue, Flushing, Queens, 718-762-1818

3. Sheng Wang -- The mainstay of the Eldridge Street pulled-noodle scene has undergone a complete renovation, so that now you could take your grandmother there. Over-rice dishes are now in evidence, but stick with the house special pulled noodles (including all sorts of offal) or the much milder stir-fried peel noodles. If you've never tasted noodles made just minutes before, this place is a revelation. And dirt-cheap, too. 27 Eldridge Street, 212-925-0805

2. Lu Xiang Yuan -- Flushing's second restaurant from Qingdao features the mind-bogglingly strange and wonderful cuisine of that city, including bubbling chafing dishes of lamb in red oil flavored with cumin, fried pork dumplings shaped like crepes, soups favoring such unexpected ingredients as pumpkin and milk, and tangy composed salads of seafood and vegetables. 42-87 Main Street, Flushing, Queens, 718-359-2108